Cornyn is holding up the nomination of Mark Lippert to become Pentagon’s top Asia official over the issue of selling US fighter jets to Taiwan. (Photo: AFP)

After six months of classic DC gridlock, Mark W. Lippert, one of President Obama’s closest confidants, has been confirmed as the Pentagon’s top Asia official. The confirmation had been blocked by Texas Sen. John Cornyn for months, but last night he decided to step back and let the nomination proceed.

Cornyn had been holding up the nomination of Lippert to the key Pentagon post to protest the administration’s position on not selling made-in-Texas fighter jets to Taiwan.

In February, the Texas senator placed what is known as “a hold” on Lippert’s nomination to become Pentagon’s top Asia official, and he refused to allow the nomination to proceed until the administration agreed to negotiate on the sensitive issue of selling F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan.

But the White House refused to negotiate or give any concessions, despite numerous requests from Cornyn. That left the decision making process paralyzed. According to a Cornyn aide, it is a significant shift in tone from the White House that made Cornyn decide to lift the hold.

“I commend the administration for recognizing that our friend and ally Taiwan’s air force is woefully undersized and outgunned by Communist China, and their inability to adequately defend themselves poses a threat not just to their own security, but to that of the United States. I look forward to continuing to work hand-in-hand with the Administration and Taiwan as we move forward in this joint effort to ensure Taiwan has the new American-made fighter jets it needs to defend itself,” Cornyn said in a statement Friday.

The White House welcomes Cornyn’s decision to lift his hold in a letter to the senator. While there are no concessions in the letter, the administration promises that Lippert will work closely with Taiwan to “address Taiwan’s fighter gap,” Robert Nabors, assistant to Obama, writes in the letter.

Cornyn’s hold replaced senator John McCain’s, who placed a hold on the nomination back in October when the nomination was made by the White House. McCain wanted details about the quarrel between Lippert, who served as chief-of-staff of the National Security Council, and then National Security Advisor Jim Jones, who claimed that Lippert blocked his access to the president. As soon as McCain lifted his hold, Cornyn stepped in and placed another hold on the nomination. Lippert waited a total of six months to be approved by the Senate for the position.

The hold-ups of nominations have increased dramatically in recent years. American Enterprise Institute political analyst Norm Ornstein describes the process as “senators taking the nominees as hostages” and calls the resulting gridlock “terrible” for the country.

“It affects the fabric of governance and damages the political system in the United States,” said Ornstein. “It creates a vacuum in key leadership posts, hurts continuity (in federal agencies), and makes it harder to attract good people to public policy — because who wants to get dragged through this. This is no way to run a country.”

While “holds” are an old Senate custom, Ornstein said that they are now being used by senators from both parties for political extortion rather than questions of qualifications.

“We used to see senators place holds on nominations because they objected to the individual, but now it’s more common to see them placed on nominations even with extremely qualified persons for extremely important positions, and for longer periods of time,” he said. “It’s become a bargaining chip.”

The White House does not want to sell F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan because China would consider such a move extremely provocative. China’s ruling Communist party claims that Taiwan is a part of their territory and should be re-united with the mainland for the first time since Mao Zedong took power more than six decades ago.

Jonathan Pollack, an expert in U.S.-China relations at the Brookings Institution, says selling the fighter jets to Taiwan could have dire consequences.

“China objects quite heatedly against the U.S. selling Taiwan the fighter jets, so for the White House it’s a question of balancing Taiwan’s needs in respects to weapon with U.S. relations with China,” he says. “This is in no way unique to the Obama administration. Several administrations have faced this issue before. But there’s been an increase in official relations between U.S. and China since then, and that’s what makes it complicated.”

To Cornyn, the issue of selling the fighter jets to Taiwan isn’t only about protecting an ally and standing up against China. The fighter jets would be made in Forth Worth, and thus create jobs in the area.

“This capitulation by the Obama administration is a slap in the face to a strong ally and puts us on a very slippery slope in granting Communist China sway over American foreign policy. This sale would be a win-win, bolstering the national security of two democratic nations and supporting jobs for an American workforce that desperately needs them,” Cornyn said. Cornyn’s office couldn’t answer how many jobs would be created if it’s decided to sell the fighter jets to Taiwan.

It’s the second time Cornyn has been holding up a nomination over the issue: Last summer he refused to lift his hold on the nomination of Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns until Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted to address the issue and make a decision regarding the sale of the F-16 fighter jet to Taiwan. In October, the Obama administration instead agreed to sell upgrade packages to Taiwan’s fleet of F-15 A/B model planes, and in a letter to Cornyn acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Jim Miller wrote that the upgrades “effectively meets Taiwan’s current needs.”

But Pollack says it makes no sense for Cornyn to involve Lippert in the negotiations, as he doesn’t have the responsibility or power to address the issues yet. Lippert is one of Obama’s earliest foreign policy advisers, serving as senior foreign policy aide for then senator Obama since 2005.

“There’s little Mark Lippert can do to address any of this as long as he’s not in the position, so this is just a bargaining chip,” Pollack said.

With both the White House and Cornyn refusing to budge, it’s been hard to see a way out of the gridlock other than a temporary “recess appointment” that bypasses Senate confirmation.

A Cornyn aide said that the senator wouldn’t lift his hold before the Obama administration answers the two letters the senator has written the president, demanding that the administration addresses the issue.

“Sen. Cornyn believes the White House must articulate a clear near-term course of action to address Taiwan’s looming fighter shortfall, something they have not yet done,” the aide said.

Today these letters were answered, though the White House didn’t agree to sell Taiwan the fighter jets.